The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-07-21

The HAMPToNs, July 1O.-The Brook.
lyn Tabernacle being closed for enlarge
ment, the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, D. D.,
pastor, spent his irst Sabbath away from
his flock the present season at this summer
home. His subject for to-day was, "From
Dungeon to Palace" and his text, "The
time of my department is at hand. I'll
Timothy iv, 6.
The way out of this world is so blocked up
with coffin and hearse, and undertakers
spade and screwdriyer, that the Christian
can hardly think as he ought OF the most
cheerful passage in all his history We
hang black instead of white over the place
where the good man gets his last vic ory.
We stand weeping over heap of chains
which the freed soul has shaken off, and
we say "Poor nun! What pity it was
he had to come to this!" Come to what? By
the time the people have assembled at the
obsequies that man has been three days SO
happy that all the Joy of earth accumulated
would be wretchedness beside it, and he
might better weep over you because you
have 10 stay, than you weep over him be-
cause he has TO 60. 1t is fortunate thing
that good man does not have 10 wait to
see his own obsequies, they would be so
discordant with his own experience. If
the Israelites should go back TO Egypt and
mourn over the brick kilns they once left,
they would not be any more silly than that
Christian who should forsake Heaven and
come down and mourn because he had to
leave this world. Our ideas of the Chris
tian's death are morbid and sickly. We
look upon it as a dark hole, in which O
man stumbles when his breath gives out.
This whole subject is odorous with yarnish
and disinfectnnts, instead of being sweet
t,-.t tn1r.
that great clod of word. death" and
throws it away, and speaks of his de
parture"-a beautiful, bright, suggestive
word, descriptive of every Christians re-
lease.
Now, departure implies a starting place
and q place of destination. When Paul
left this world what was the starting
point2 1t was a scene of great physical
distress. 1t was the Iullianum, the lower
| dungeon of the Mamertine prison. The
top dungeon was bad enough, it having no
means of ingress or egress but thlough-an
| opening in the top. Through that the
| prisoner was lowered, and through that
| came all the food and air and light re-
| ceived. 1t was terrible place, that upper
| dungeon; but the Tulianum was The
| lower dungeon, and that was still more
wretched, the only light and the only air
coming through the roof, and that roof the
| floor of the upper dungeon. That was
Paul's last earthly residence. 1t was a
| dungeon just six ieet and half high. 1t
was doleful place. 1t had the chill of
long centuries Of dampness. 1t was filthy
| with the long incarceration of miserable
wretches. 1t was there that Paul spent
his last days on earth, and it is there that
| I see him to-day, in the fearful dungeon,
shivering, blue with the cold, waiting for
that old overcoat which he had sent for up
to Troas, and which they had not yet sent
down, notwithstanding he had written
for it.
| II some skillful surgeon should 90 into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated,
We might find out what are the prospects
Of PauPs living through the rough inn
prisonment In the first place, he ia an
old man, only two years short Of 70. At
that very time when he most needs the
warmth and the sunlight and the fresh
air, he ID shut out from the sun. What
Are those seats on his nnklesp Why, those
were gotten whom he was fast, his feet in
the stocks. Every time he turned the
Resh On his ankles started. What ara
those SOaRs on has back? You know he
Wns whipped five times, each time getting
thiry.nine strokes-ly5 bruises on the
back tcount hemD made by the Jews with
rods Of elmWood, eRch one OF the l9s
strokes bringing the blood. Look n
PAul's face and look ut his arms. Where
did he get those bruises1 / think it vaa
when he was struggling ashore amidst the
ghivored Gmbers Of the Shipvreck. / ses
Rash in Paurs side. Where did he get
thAtp / think he got that in the eussle
with highwAymen, for he had been in peril
Of robbers and he had money Of his own,
He wAa q mechanic As we'll as an apostle,
and / think the tents he made were "a
good as his sermons.
There IL q wnnness about Pauls looks.
What mAkos thAtp think part of thai
came from the fact that he was for swenty.
four hours on plank in the Mediterranean
Sea suffering terribly, before he was res
cued; for he SAYS positively: II was a
night and day in the deep" Oh, worn
out, emaciated old man! surely you must
be melancholy. No constitution could en-
dure this and be cheerful. But press my
way through the prison until l come up
close to where he is, and by the faint light
that streams through the opening see on
his face supernatural Joy, and bow be-
fore him and say: aged man, how can
you keep cheerful amidst all this gloom?'
His voice startles the darkness of the place
as he cries out: 81 am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure ia
at hand" Hark! what is that shutting Of
feet in the upper dungeon? Why, Pau
has an invitation to a banquet and he ID
going to dine to-day with the King. Those
Shuff1ing feet are the feet Of the execution
On. They come, and they cry down
through the hole of the dungeon;
"Hurry up, old man. Come now; get your
self ready" Why, Paul was ready. He
had nothing to pack up, He had no bag
gage to take. He had been ready agoQd
while. see him rising up, and straight
ening out his stittened limbs, and pushing
back his white hair from his creviced fore
head, and see him looking up through the
hole in the roof of the dungeon into the
face of his executioner, and hear him say:
Hurry along, old man, or you will feel the
weight of our spear. Hurry along.
SLOW far is it," says Paul, eve have to
travel?" "Three miles," Three miles is q
good way for an old man to travel after he
has been whipped and crippled with NAL
treatment. But they soon get 10 the place
of execution-Acquae Salvia-and he If
fastened to the pillar of marlyrdom. II
does not take any strength to tie him fast
He makes no resistance. 0 Paul! why
not strike for your life? You have great
many friends here. With that withereG
hand just launch the thunderbolt of the
people upon those infamous soldiers. No
Paul was not going to interfere with his
own coronation. He was too glad 10 go.
see him looking up into the face of his ex-
ecutioner, and, as the grim official draws
the sword, Paul calmly says "I am now
ready to be offered, and the time of my de-
parture is at hand" But 1 put my hand
over my eyes. l want not to see that last
struggle. One sharp, keen stroke. and
Paul does go to the banquet, and Paul does
dine with the King.
What transition it was! From the
malaria of Rome to the finest climate in ali
the universe--the one of eternal beauty
and health. His ashes were put in the